Unsaid Things
by justapaperbag
Summary: It's the end of the final year for MWPP et al. Can James FINALLY convince Lily to go out with him, even just once? And who IS the mysterious girl Sirius is seeing? JPLE SBOC. R
1. Meet Gryffindor

Okay, okay, I know I should be working on my other fics (all of which are incomplete!) but this idea just _came _to me last night, so I wrote it down ASAP. It'll probably only be a couple of chapters long, so don't go getting your hopes up (what a joke).

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"Lily? You coming?"

Lily Evans, an eighteen-year-old witch with auburn hair, shining green eyes and cheekbones like the blade of a plough, looked vaguely up from her Arithmancy book.

"What?"

"Are you coming?" Scarlett asked again.

"Coming where?"

"To the Hall!" moaned Scarlett exasperatedly.

"Oh." Lily said shortly, "Yeah, I guess I have to." She looked wistfully at page ninety-three of her book, the last page of that chapter to be exact.

"Come on Lils," Scarlett said, shutting the book with triumphant vindictiveness and pulling Lily away from her table in Gryffindor common room.

After being dragged through the portrait and down a couple of corridors, Lily decided she could walk by herself, and she made her own way towards the Great Hall for the seventh year meeting.

"I wonder who we'll get!" Scarlett squealed, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table beside their best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Clementine Krucynski.

"You managed to pry her away then," she said, grinning. Lily looked at her huffily.

"Just because _you _don't find Arithmancy interesting Clem, doesn't mean the rest of us do!" she complained loudly.

"Name me one other person in this room who enjoys it as much as you and I'll shut up about it," Clem laughed.

"Remus does! Don't you Remus?" Lily asked, addressing a sandy-haired boy sitting opposite them. He turned round hearing his name.

"Don't I what?" he asked, yawning widely and rubbing his eyes.

"You like Arithmancy don't you?"

"Yeah… I guess," he said turning away from them, back to his friends, namely Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily's arch-enemy, James Potter. The four of them were known as 'The Marauders,' but nobody quite knew why.

It was common knowledge in the school that James had 'the hots' for Lily Evans, and he had made this known to her by asking her out practically everyday for the past three years, which was probably why she hated him as much as she did. In her first couple of years at Hogwarts, she'd had him down as a friendly, considerate fellow Gryffindor, even conversed in an affable manner with him. But now, he was Public Enemy Number 1; which Lily and Clem had shortened to PEN 1, so they could talk about him privately whenever he or a fellow Marauder was within earshot. And Sirius was now PEN 2, so they could talk about him without Scarlett going off on a tangent.

And unfortunately, Potter, like Lily, was a Head Student. Lily wasn't about to deny that James was attractive, because he was, and everyone knew it. His best friend, Sirius Black, was also a 'hottie', but in a different sense.

James was cute, he had messy black hair and mischievous eyes; but Sirius was… graceful was the only word to describe him. He had long, dark hair, which swept elegantly over his face and soulful, grey eyes. But even though he looked graceful, his personality was most definitely not. All one had to do was look at the cheeky grin permanently attached to his face, to realise he was quite the prankster at heart. And Lily had had a crush on him the first time she met him, until she realised how much of an idiot he was, and bequeathed him to his hoards of fan girls.

"Where's Gwen?" Clem enquired, looking around. Scarlett shrugged half-heartedly.

"I couldn't find her," she said simply, looking across the table at the dark-haired boy.

"Ah, don't worry," Clementine assured her, "She'll turn up in the end, always does."

"Oh, I hope I get Sirius," Scarlett sighed loudly, not caring that Mr. Black himself was sitting just a couple of feet away from her.

"Yeah, you and every other girl in the year!" Clem said, smirking.

"That's not true," Lily cut in, "I wouldn't want Sirius."

"Why ever not?" asked Scarlett, taken aback, "Who wouldn't want him?"

"Lily, obviously," Clem answered, grinning at the expression on Scarlett's face.

"I'd just rather someone who would actually _do_ some work," Lily told her matter-of-factly, "Not someone who'd just sit around putting Fudge Flies in my hair." She rolled her eyes, remembering all to well, the first (and last) time she had been paired with Sirius for an assignment.

Clem laughed and ran a thin hand through her own curly, strawberry-blonde hair, looking up to the other end of the Great Hall.

"Hey, guys," she said, nudging Scarlett, who was on her left, "McGonagall's almost finished with the Ravenclaws!"

"Okay, she's going to be announcing who we're going to be paired with for studying next!" Scarlett yelped, a delighted grin on face, "Wish me luck!" Lily rolled her eyes, but held up a hand with crossed fingers all the same.

"Luck!" she said, at the same time as Clem. Scarlett giggled, and turned her bright, baby blue eyes back towards the Professor.

Lily sighed. She wasn't entirely sure why she'd signed up for this NEWT course 'Study Buddy' thing in the first place. Sure, it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but she'd only recently realised that whoever you were paired with would be in the same house as you, which meant she would get Remus, Peter, Sirius or James.

_Oh joy of joys, _she thought sarcastically, _and knowing my luck, I'll end up with Potter._

Remus would be good, he was just about the only other person in school who shared the same views as Lily when it came to school, and the only Marauder she was actually friendly towards.

Peter, she could cope with, he wasn't as annoying as the others and would most likely do whatever she told him, but he wasn't on the same intellectual scale as Remus.

Sirius, well, she wasn't looking forward to that if it happened, as it would probably end in a reoccurrence of the Fudge Fly incident.

And James? Let's not even go there. Hell, she'd even settle for Sirius if it meant not having to work with Potter.

Teachers seemed to like pairing them. Last year in Potions they'd had to work together a grand total of six times, much to Lily's disgust, and in Charms as well, to James' delight, as Lily was top of Charms, and he wanted to see if that would somehow rub off on him. Even this year, Dumbledore had given both of them the place of Head, for which Lily had almost considered giving in her badge, but decided she was not going to let someone like _him_ get in her way.

Lily was just thankful she didn't have Arithmancy with him, as a lot of the work was in pairs, (most of which she had been with Remus). Thinking about it, that was probably why she enjoyed Arithmancy so much.

There was a sudden commotion at the back of the hall, as a dark-haired, dark-skinned girl came bursting in, knocking over some unfortunate Hufflepuff, unkempt flyaway hair and large brown eyes surrounded by sooty lashes.

"Gwennie, what took you?" asked Clem, staring in wonder at how disorganised the girl was.

Gwenog Jones, the last of the Gryffindors, squeezed in between Lily and Clementine, panting slightly, cheeks flushed.

"Oh, y'know," she said, waving her hand absentmindedly, "I was having a shower." She looked sideways at her frizzy hair and groaned loudly. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a Metamorphmagus!" she wailed, glaring at Scarlett, "Some people have all the luck!"

"What can I say honey?" said Scarlett, smiling. "Ya either got it or ya don't! Which reminds me," she added, turning to Lily, "Does this hair suit me?" She pointed to the cherry red layers on her head.

"Yeah…" said Lily slowly, "It's cute. Kinda… elfin."

"You sure?" asked Scarlett, picking up a spoon and looking at her reflection, "You think Sirius likes it?"

"I'm sure he does dear," said Clem, grinning. Lily looked at her friend, who was, in essence, admiring her reflection in a spoon, and snorted.

"And I thought Potter was vain!" she howled. Clem and Gwen giggled too; the only one who didn't was a disgruntled Scarlett.

"Ahem," came a voice from behind them, putting a stop to their giggles. "Girls, please," said McGonagall, looking at the notice which she held up, "I get enough of that already from the boys, do I really need it from you as well?"

"No Professor," said Clem loudly, "Sorry, it won't happen again." McGonagall peered at them sternly, before reading from her parchment.

"For the next two weeks before NEWTs, you and your partner will be on study-leave. There will be no lessons during that time, unless you are told otherwise by me or your teacher," she read, full attention from all eight Gryffindors, "You are not forced to spend all your free time studying, but I will remind you that this is for your benefit, and you should take it seriously. The study partners are as follows: Gwenog Jones and Peter Pettigrew." Gwen rolled her eyes, and Lily bit her lip to keep herself from giggling. "Clementine Krucynski and Remus Lupin."

Clem smirked smugly at Lily, who retorted with a glare, and then sighed, knowing this could not be good.

"Scarlett Wood and Sirius Black,"

"Whoo!" said Sirius loudly, causing Scarlett to blush, beaming widely. Lily rolled her eyes, knowing her fears had been confirmed. It was exactly what she had expected after all.

"And finally, Lily Evans and James Potter. You may now go back to your common room and get started if you wish. Good luck." McGonagall finished, before heading back to the Staff room.

"Thanks," Lily muttered to herself, "I'm gonna need it."

"Oh, bummerifica Lils!" Scarlett sympathised, patting Lily's hand. Lily grimaced at her.

"Scarlett, you coming?" asked Sirius questioningly, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Oh yeah!" she replied, jumping up as though he'd just offered her VIP tickets to the next Weird Sisters World Tour. He held out a large hand and she took it, bouncing out the hall with him and waving over her shoulder at her friends.

"So much for the bond of friendship!" Lily commented dryly, as Clem made a 'hmph' noise beside her.

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"Hey Lils?" James asked tentatively.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" she snapped, not looking up from her book.

"Today? Six or seven," James answered, "But anyway, why are you so upset?"

"Upset?" she snarled, rounding on him with an expression that would have made any other guy cower in fear. But this was James Potter, and he was well used to Lily's fiery temper, having received more than a slap or two from her in his time.

"Yeah," he said simply. She looked deep into his eyes and for a moment James felt hypnotised by their unearthly green.

"Because I didn't want to be with you for this 'Study' thing," she told him honestly.

"Oh," was all he said. He wasn't about to show it, but he was hurt. Badly. "Want to test me on Astronomy?" he asked brightly.

"No," Lily said grumpily.

"How about History of Magic, I can never remember those goblin leaders."

"No."

"Transfiguration?"

"_No."_

"Okay, Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"NO!"

"Aw, come on Lils," he whined, "I thought the whole point of this was to help your partner study!"

"Well, so did I until I got _you_ for a partner," she spat, "And _stop_ calling me _Lils_! It's Evans to you!"

James sighed and sat back in his chair. He liked Lily, but the fact that she hated him was starting to get to him. She kept nagging at him every time he opened his mouth, and snapping if he said something wrong.

"Y'know what?" he said in an annoyed tone, sitting up, "Fine. If you're not going to help me study, I won't study at all. I'm going to go see the boys."

"Bye then Potter," she growled at him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Bye _Evans,"_ he replied bitterly, marching out the door. "Bitch," he muttered in an undertone.

Lily sighed, before deciding she was too stressed to be studying at the moment. Everything about James seemed to make her tense up. It was true, he wasn't so brash and conceited this year, but Lily was just waiting for the act to drop so that she could stop looking over her shoulder all the time. She kept expecting James to suddenly turn back to what he used to be, and knew when the time came, she'd be the first to know.

She picked up all her books and trudged back to the Gryffindor common room. She'd been offered a room in the Heads' quarters, and it was a very nice room, but she knew if she took it, James would follow her and move in next door. Right now, having him as a study partner was enough, she could do without him being the first thing she saw on a morning as well, although she did sleep there some nights, and often smuggled the Gryffindor girls in there to have a 'Girls' Night In.'

When she got through the portrait, there were only a couple of people in there, and two of them were Gwen and Scarlett. Gwen was writing something with her tongue poking out (as often she did when concentrating) and Scarlett was flirting with Mr. Black, who was sat beside her on the leather sofa next to the fireplace. Lily chose to ignore this charming new development and sat beside Gwen.

"What are you writing?" she asked, trying to read it over her friends elbow.

"A letter."

"To whom, may I ask?"

"Holyhead Harpies."

"Why?" Gwen growled and threw her quill down, glaring at Lily.

"_I am trying to concentrate!_" she snarled.

"Sorry, I was just asking. But why are you?" Gwen sighed, but knew Lily would harp on about it if she didn't explain.

"You know how I really wanted to try out for Wimpbourne Wasps?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, they only accept one applicant per year, and today I found out James is applying. You have to agree that any Quidditch team would pick him over me right?"

"I guess," Lily answered, knowing she'd be foolish to admit that Potter wasn't the best player in the school.

"Wrong!" Gwen cried with vivaciousness, "One team wouldn't! The Holyhead Harpies!"

"Why not?" Lily asked. She knew the answer would be a simple one, but having grown up in the muggle world, she had no clue about anything to do with Quidditch.

"Because it's an all women's team!"

"Oh…" Lily commented with dawning comprehension, "I'll let you get on with it then, shall I?"

Gwen frowned at her patronisingly, then picked up her quill and continued to write.

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Yeah, I'm sorry, I just _had _to work myself into at least _one _of my fics (Scarlett, by the way). I wrote the character originally under the name of Chastity, so that nobody would know it was me. But then I let Nick read it before I posted it on here, and he said, (and I quote) "If you're going to write yourself as one of the characters, at least take credit for it and use your real name!" And I didn't even tell him she was supposed to be me! (Damn, that boy knows me too well!)

In case you're wondering, or if you find this kind of thing interesting, Clementine is based on my friend Meg, and her full name is the name of Kate Winslet's character in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Gwen is actually a player (beater, I think) and Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, only all Women British Quidditch team.

Anyways, review and I'll put up the next chapter soon.


	2. A Howl In The Dark

A/N: So here's the second chapter, and I'd like to start by thanking my only reviewer, DramaQn621. Thanks, I appreciate it a lot! Glad you like it, here's chapter 2!

If anybody has any ideas for a different title to this story, I'd love to hear them. It was named in a 'spur of the moment' kinda thing (I was listening to the McFly song, 'Unsaid Things' at the time), and to be frank, I don't think it fits. I never seem to think about the title until I'm creating the story (with the exception of 'Never Odd Or Even', I had that one from the beginining) and then I'm like "Oh bloody hell, what AM I going to call it???"

And also, I don't remember what colour/breed of stag James was in his Animagus form, but in my fanfic, he's a white stag. Like in Animals Of Farthing Wood, I always loved the stag in that.

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Lily was just turning a corner, back to Gryffindor Tower, when somebody walked into her. The corridors were quite deserted at this time of night, and the only two students with permission to be out late were her and Potter.

She looked up to see who it was, thinking she could tell them off for being out late, but saw no one. She turned round, and sure enough, they had walked past without a word. She was about to say something, before realising that the back of the head she was looking at had messy black hair; very _distinct_ messy black hair.

_Where's Potter going? _She wondered. She also noticed that it was decidedly strange for him to walk past her and not say anything at all. _Maybe he's still pissed because I wouldn't help him study? _But even so, it was very unusual that he wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.

_Right, _she thought, _I am going to follow him!_

Okay, this was weird. It was usually James who showed signs of Stalker Tendencies, not her.

_Oh well, this is a one off_, she assured herself, _it will NEVER happen again._

James walked exceedingly quickly to wherever he was headed, and Lily had to walk at twice his pace just to maintain the same level of distance between them. She followed him for a good ten minutes, through the dark, winding Hogwarts corridors, before he paused in an open courtyard.

Lily hid in the shadows as two other figures came to join him. One of them had the easily recognisable pale skin and dark hair of Sirius Black, and the other had the shiny, watery eyes that glinted in the light of the full moon, Peter Pettigrew.

What were they doing out here at this time of night? And where the hell was Remus? Didn't he usually join them on their little escapades? The next conversation answered that question.

"Have you seen Remus?" James asked Sirius.

"Yeah," he muttered, "Madame Pomfrey took him under the Whomping Willow about ten minutes ago. The moon's only just come out so he's probably not fully transformed yet, we should wait a couple of seconds."

Lupin? Transforming? The Whomping Willow? What exactly was going on?

"So what do you reckon for tonight?" James asked, teeth flashing as he grinned, "Stay in the Shack? Or go out on the grounds?"

"Depends what mood he's in, doesn't it?" Sirius replied calmly, "But I think we'll be safe with the grounds, he seemed in quite a good mood earlier didn't he?"

"The last time you said _that _Padfoot," Peter sighed, "He was grumpy and I got trapped under the bookcase he knocked over!"

"Oh yeah!" said Sirius, letting out a bark-like laugh.

And so the mystery deepened. Every comment they made got Lily more and more confused about what exactly was going on.

"Sssh!" James grumbled, "Keep your voices down! Somebody will hear!"

"Okay, okay!" Sirius complained, "I'll go give the grounds the once over shall I? Check no-one's around?"

"Yeah, good idea," Peter said, keeping a beady eye on the Whomping Willow in the distance, "We'll meet you by the lake in ten minutes, okay?"

Sirius nodded sharply before turning towards the shadows on Lily left, disappearing into the mist, missing her by a metre.

And sure enough, ten minutes later Sirius met Peter and James (whom Lily had followed down there) at the lake, the full moon reflected in the glistening water.

"Anything?" asked James, looking expectantly at his best friend. Sirius shook his head, black hair flailing wildly.

"Not that I could sense," he said, yawning, "Are we going in then?" It was at this point Lily lost her balance and only managed to stay upright by grabbing the mossy rock she was crouched behind with loud scratching noises as her nails gripped it.

"Might as well," Peter answered, obviously none of them had noticed her little episode, "He'll be ready I think."

"Shit!" said Lily a little too loudly as she examined her mangled nails, before clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Can you hear something?" asked James suddenly, holding up his hand. Sirius and Peter listened intently for a couple of seconds.

"No," Peter replied.

"I think you just imagined it mate," said Sirius grinning, "Come on, I can't be asked waiting much longer."

The trio set off down the hill towards the vicious tree known by all as the Whomping Willow. Peter and Sirius kept walking, as James turned round for one last look into the shadows made by the forest Lily was hiding in. She shrank back until she was sure he'd gone, and then peered out.

There was a sudden 'snap' behind her, like someone standing on a twig. She spun quickly around, and gasped as she saw a pair of malicious black eyes an inch from her own.

"What are you doing here, Mudblood?" Severus asked, sneering.

"That's none of your business _Snivellus,_" she retorted scornfully, using the nickname the Marauders had created years previously. Snape scowled baring pointed teeth, eyes flashing sharply. "Unless you've forgotten, I'm Head Girl, that means I can go where I like, when I like. You on the other hand, can't. So unless you tell me why you're here, I'm finding the first teacher inside the castle and informing them of your little… escapade."

"I was… going for a walk," he mumbled, realising he'd been caught out.

"At this time of night? As if!" she snorted, "Come on, I want the truth."

"I was…" he started, heat rising to his pallid face, "Oh, fine, I was following Black."

"Really?" she asked pointedly.

"Yes," he snapped, "I… I saw him from a window and wondered where he was going." Lily surveyed him from under her thin eyebrows. Something in his eyes made her think he wasn't telling the whole truth, but he certainly wasn't giving her any clues.

"Fine," she sighed, "Just… go back to bed and we'll forget about it, all right?" He nodded sullenly, and she watched his back receding, making sure he went all the way into the castle.

After she was one hundred percent sure he'd left, she began to creep slowly in the direction the boys had gone. The atmosphere seemed different somehow. It was quiet. Deathly quiet. There wasn't a single noise from the forest, not a fairy buzzed nor a fwooper sang.

She turned, panicked, as she began to hear a steady panting noise and rustling through the trees. And then she heard the most chilling sound she had ever heard in her life. A howl in the dark. Her brain froze and she started to run in the wrong direction, away from the safety of Hogwarts castle, into the Forbidden Forest. Too late she realised what she had done, and a giant, hairy wolf sprang through the undergrowth to land in front of her.

She let out a piercing scream, as another large, black creature, appeared above the wolf, jumping on top of it.

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Just moments before, James Potter, (otherwise known as Prongs) under the Animagus transformation of a white stag, turned his head sharply to look at Padfoot. Moony, in front of them, had stopped, ears pricked up and snout sniffing.

_He's caught a scent._

He sprang forwards at the same time as Padfoot, but Moony had escaped into the forest.

_Someone was out on the grounds._

Prongs didn't know why, but for some odd reason his mind kept returning to Lily.

_Please, not her, anyone but her. Not Lily._

It was like he knew what was wrong even before it happened. A scream filled the air, and in that second, in that moment, he knew his worst fears had been confirmed.

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She couldn't move. Her legs felt numb and every time she tried to run she found she was rooted to the spot. Lily watched in horror as the two great beasts battled it out, snapping, biting and snarling at each other. She was so shocked at the sight, that she didn't notice the beautiful, pure white animal that came sprinting from the forest, until it had pushed her away.

Her brain still didn't seem to be working properly. She looked at the stag, and could almost swear it was telling her to get onto its back. Shakily, she climbed on, not really focusing on what she was doing. As soon as she was safely seated, the stag cantered away back towards the castle.

It knelt down as they reached the large wooden doors, so she could climb off, but the instant she did, she heard a rushing noise in her ears, and a weight pressing on her head as the world blacked out.

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"Lily? Lily, please! Talk to me Lil!"

She groggily opened one bleary eye, to see the concerned face of James Potter staring down at her.

"Lily can you hear me?" he asked, panic clearly visible in his eyes.

"Yes," she mumbled, her tongue slipping over the word.

"Oh Thank God," he breathed, putting a hand on her forehead, "I thought something had happened."

"Something did happen!" she cried, trying to sit up.

"No, lie down," James told her, pushing her shoulders back down, "If you get up to quickly you'll faint again."

"No Potter, really, something happened!" she said again, for once following his requests and lying still, "There was a wolf… and something big and black… and a stag! And the wolf tried to kill me! I swear on my life, it did!"

James sighed heavily, and he turned his eyes away from her, not moving his hand from its place on her shoulder.

"You… you don't believe me do?" she muttered, an angry scowl on her face, "I knew it, nobody will."

"Oh no, I believe you all right," James said, looking back and catching her eyes, "It's just…"

"What?" Lily probed, afraid of his answer. James sighed again before replying.

"You're not supposed to know about it."

"Know about what?" James shut his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before answering again.

"I'm not going to lie to you anymore Lily," he told her, "You're a smart girl and you'll work it out in the end. I've wanted to tell you for such a long time but Remus and Sirius wouldn't let me."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked bewildered.

"It was Remus," James told her simply.

"What was Remus?"

"The werewolf."

Lily wasn't entirely sure what to say to this. She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity before saying weakly, "Remus… is… a werewolf?"

James nodded, rubbing his chin. The pair was in a pensieve for a minute, before Lily asked "Er… James?" He looked at her sharply; perhaps because he was afraid of what she would say, perhaps it was the shock of hearing Lily calling him by his Christian name. "Can I get up now?" she asked.

James snorted lightly, before grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. Lily stood still for a couple of seconds, regaining her balance and trying to shake away that dizzy nauseous feeling, not noticing that he hadn't actually let go of her hand.

"Come on," he said pulling her inside. He led her through the corridors to the rooms they shared as Head students, which were much closer than Gryffindor common room, and sat her down on the large, red velvet sofa in the centre. "You okay?" he asked, as Lily put a hand to her forehead and shut her eyes tightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told him unconvincingly, "Its just shock, that's all." James nodded slowly, knowing she didn't want to admit she was feeling weak. Girls like her didn't want to depend on others, especially at low points, and he respected that, even if she didn't know it yet.

"You did better than Padfoot," he commented, "When _he _found out, he shoved his head down the toilet."

"Why?" Lily asked, strangely fascinated.

"God knows," James laughed, "You're asking me to fathom a mind I cannot begin to comprehend, but its probably for the same reason that he keeps a collection of butterbeer bottles on the roof."

"He keeps butterbeer bottles on the roof?"

"Yup. One Sunday in third year he 'borrowed' my broom, flew out the window and lined them up in the gutter on Gryffindor tower. He told us it was to measure how much rain there was, but hell will freeze over before he actually checks them again. Maybe he forgot about them…"

"What next?" Lily muttered dryly.

"Well, this morning he informed me of his plans to be the first ever Azkaban escapee, and to design a line of bobble hats for hippogriffs." Lily laughed, and James felt a rush of pride. Her laugh was beautiful, like tinkling bells. Her smile fell, replaced by a grimace, and she rubbed her temples sighing.

James pulled a Honeydukes chocolate bar from his pocket, broke a couple of chunks off, and handed to her.

"No, I can't," she said, shaking her head, "They'll make me sick."

"They won't," James assured her, "Just eat them, you'll feel a lot better for it."

"I'm on a diet," she lied, really not feeling like chocolate.

"No you're not."

"How do you know?"

"If you're on a diet, you're not the girl I thought you were."

Lily regarded him coolly with her piercing gaze, he certainly had a point, maybe he wasn't the boy, no, _man_, she thought he was. James looked up and caught her staring at him. He laughed and popped his last piece of chocolate into his smiling mouth, screwing up the empty wrapper. Lily smiled carefully back at him and ate a lump of her own, feeling better instantly.

There was a complacent silence between them as Lily ate her chocolate, in which James thought about his fellow Marauders, Remus in particular. He wondered how Moony would react when he found how close he'd coming to hurting somebody.

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You know what to do guys! Review!


	3. Perfect Gentleman & Relationship Problem...

Hmmm, OK, here's the next chapter. Bear in mind I'm only halfway through the fifth chapter right now, so updates will not be frequent. And I kinda have major writer's block.

Thanks to MaRoNcOoL my only other reviewer. Come on guys! Get those reviews in!

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Lily sat up stretched out her arms, yawning. The events of last night came rushing back to her.

_Crap,_ she thought, sighing heavily. To be completely honest, the thing that scared her most was the awkwardness between her and Remus that would most likely follow. The whole werewolf thing didn't really bother her, but, she mused, she'd grown up in a home where prejudice towards half-breeds was absent. _Well duh!_

But James… he was a completely different story. Last night had changed her entire attitude towards him; he been, dare she say it, a perfect _gentleman_. Let's think, he'd saved her from a werewolf (Well, technically, it had been that stag, but he had sure been the first human face she seen afterwards), he'd trusted her enough to tell her Remus' secret, she thought, ticking them off on her fingers, he'd walked her back to their rooms (although, technically, he was headed there too, so he was just… walking _with _her), been concerned for her well-being, cheered her up, he'd given her chocolate and on the whole, made her feel awfully better. And he'd put her to bed.

Lily didn't actually remember that last part, but she was pretty sure he had, because she'd awoken in her room, although she'd fallen asleep on the couch beside him. He'd even taken off her shoes. Sweet. Or perverted, depending on which way you looked at it.

And five seconds after having those thoughts, Lily mentally kicked herself. Here she was _mooning _over James of all people! And… Oh shit! She'd even stopped _thinking _of him as Potter, he was now just… James.

Before any more thoughts of James managed to sink into her head, Lily got up. This weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Lily had already made plans with the girls that she would spend the day with them. She had pulled on her shoes, planning to go back to Gryffindor and change (because she was still wearing her school uniform from yesterday), when James walked in carrying a tray piled high with food.

"Oh! You're up!" he exclaimed when he saw her, almost dropping the tray in surprise, "Well, I bought you some food. You've already missed breakfast."

"I have? What time is it?" Lily asked frantically, looking around for a clock.

"Half eleven," James told her.

"Oh no! I can't stay! I'm supposed to be leaving for Hogsmeade in ten minutes!" She stood up reaching for the door.

"Oh no you don't," James said, grabbing her wrist and sitting her back down, "You're going to wait here and eat breakfast."

"But if I do I'll miss the carriages!" she moaned, "And then I won't be able to go at all!"

"Don't worry I'll take you," he assured her. Lily raised her eyebrows sceptically. "What? You really think after seven years of exploring the castle, the Marauders and I haven't found numerous ways out of the castle and into Hogsmeade?"

"You have a point," Lily relented, taking a croissant from the top of the tray and biting into it. James sat down beside her on the flowery bedspread and took one for himself. "Hey! I thought you said these were for me!"

"And you really plan on eating 17 croissants, 7 slices of toast, 12 Danish pastries and 20 jam doughnuts all to yourself?" James asked, looking at her with a rather bemused expression on his face. Lily smiled despite herself, and there was an uncomfortable silence between them for a while.

"Did you just go into the Great Hall and put all this stuff on a tray?" she asked, not really caring about the answer, just needing something to talk about. "Didn't anyone try to stop you?"

"I got it from the kitchens."

"Oh. You know where the-?" She stopped mid-sentence. "Stupid question," she muttered. James laughed.

"It's a concealed door behind a picture of a bowl of fruit," he explained, "You just have to tickle the pear, it giggles and turns into a door handle. Easy."

"But how did you find out?" Lily asked interestedly, choosing a Danish pastry.

"A house elf called Bunty told us. She took quite a shine to Sirius." There was another long silence before he continued. "You know you can't tell anyone, right?"

"How to get into the kitchens? Why ever not? It's not like you own-"

"About Remus."

"Oh." Lily fell silent. James had just brought up the issue they'd avoided up until now. "Of course I won't, I'm not stupid you know."

"I figured as much."

"Have you told him? About me knowing?"

"Not yet."

"Will you?" she asked persistently.

"Yeah. Sooner or later."

There was another silence in which Lily ate a slice of toast, but this one didn't seem to be quite so awkward now they'd got past a major issue.

"How long have you known?"

"Since second year. He made some stuff up for a while, about where he went every month, but we worked it out eventually."

"Does it hurt him?"

"Not as much as it did. And he's used to it by now, he's been like that since he was very small."

"That's awful. I don't think I could cope with it."

"Me neither," James sighed. "He's very strong, mentally. I think he's done a magnificent job of handling it."

"It explains some stuff, y'know," Lily mumbled, thinking with a frown. "Where he used to disappear to, why seemed so crabby sometimes."

"I know. It's so unlike him to be that way normally."

"I'm gonna go back to my dormitory," Lily said, standing up and brushing crumbs off her skirt, "I need to change and my hair's almost as messy as yours."

"Right. I'll meet you by the statue of the one-eyed witch at quarter-past!" he called as she left the room.

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"Well, that was an experience," Lily commented as they left Honeydukes later.

James grinned, mentally slapping himself for not being able to do much else these days. "Where do you think you'll find your friends?"

"The Brazil Lounge most probably," Lily answered. "But how did you know that's who I was meeting?"

"Lucky guess."

And sure enough, that was where they found the girls, sat with Remus and Peter.

The Brazil Lounge had no connections with Brazil and wasn't a lounge but a snack bar that had only opened two years ago. It was decorated with plastic-topped tables, sugar sifters with chrome spouts, ketchup in polythene tomatoes, psychedelic designs on the walls; and it was popular with Hogwarts students because it was naff, cheap, and the wizard who ran it didn't hassle you if you made a cup of coffee last for an hour.

Lily sat down between Clem, who was having a heated debate with Gwen about a Quidditch team; and Scarlett, whose hair was black with red streaks, and whose face was wearing an uncharacteristically grumpy look.

"Where's Sirius?" James asked, sinking into an armchair, just as Lily was about to ask her friend what was up.

"Madame Puddifoot's. On a date with Jenny Carver," Remus told him, not looking up from his and Peter's game of Wizard chess. Lily stared at him for a few seconds, before putting the events of last night out of her mind. In light of this new evidence, she decided _not _to ask Scarlett why she looked rather melancholy, for fear that she might cause a scene; and instead resorted to rolling her eyes contemptuously.

James nodded and jumped to his feet again. "Lily, you want something to drink?"

"No thanks James," she lied, not really wanting to let him pay for her. He looked at her accusingly. "Fine!" she sighed. "I'll have a strawberry milkshake."

"Since when were you two on a first-name basis?" Scarlett whispered as James strolled up to the counter, the petulant expression replaced momentarily by a rather mischievous one. Lily shook her head, refusing to say anything, and feeling thankful when James returned with their drinks, shutting up her friend.

But she had barely taken a sip of her milkshake when Sirius burst in, looking pained.

"Well?" James asked, as soon as Sirius had sat down.

"Hole in the ground you get water out of," Sirius replied promptly.

James grimaced. "I meant the date, you dolt! How did you get on?"

"I didn't. Jenny was bored, I was pathetic and she doesn't want to go out with me again."

"Bummerifica!" Scarlett commented, sounding delighted more than anything.

"Don't worry, I think I'm getting the hang of rejection. I might as well face it, when it comes to girls I don't have the 'right stuff'. Is there something I should know about myself that you haven't told me?"

"Yes," said Lily, butting in. "You have no taste."

"Excuse me?!"

"Get real Sirius! Jenny Carver? Sure, she's attractive, but she's also so up herself her shoes don't touch the ground. You always go for the wrong girls, don't you?"

"No!"

"No?" She counted off Sirius's previous disasters on her fingers. "Clare Lynch is so obsessed with riding that she'll probably wind up marrying a centaur, Amelia Crawford puts locks on her underwear, Amber Myers is so attached to her broomstick it's unhealthy, Hannah Owens is a total man-eater and would eat you for breakfast, Carmen Lanes has an ego bigger than this loser ("Hey!" said James, looking put out when she pointed to him) Katie Rhodes is a poser and a utter wannabe, Andrea Walker is the gossip-monger responsible for the rumour you like your women in nurses costumes, and Kitty Wainwright is a manic-depressive who never gets manic. You put yourself in a no-win situation every time."

"Maybe he's a masochist," James chipped in. "They do things for kicks. Did you hear about the masochist who-."

"Not now James," said Lily. "Come to think of it, not ever."

Sirius was puzzled. "Hang on Evans, are you saying that I deliberately chose girls I didn't stand a chance with?" he said.

"Yes," Lily replied, feeling rather pleased Sirius had grasped this concept so quickly.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because if it worked out with someone, you wouldn't know what to do. You enjoy the hunt, but you don't like going in for the kill."

"So what should I do?"

"Quit chasing. The girl you're after is out there somewhere," She threw a furtive look in Scarlett's direction, who had stayed oddly quiet during the conversation. "But if you go looking you're not going to find her. Let her come to you."

"Like… do nothing?"

"Exactly."

"Isn't that a bit passive? Girls expect boys to make the first move, don't they?"

Lily laughed loudly. "Wise up Sirius! The rule book was trashed last century."

"Some girls like the old-fashioned approach," Sirius said defensively.

"True, and they're exactly the kind of girls you should steer clear of."

"Lighten up, you two!" James grumbled, "All this reverse psychology is doing my head in."

"You're jealous," Sirius retorted.

"Of what?"

"Me. You're happy with who you are. I've got angst, no hand-eye coordination and a massive problem with forming long-term relationships. That makes me a real adolescent and you a fake."

"You have a point there Sirius. Why don't you find a nice quiet corner and sit on it?" Sirius pulled a face. "Hey, girls?" James called to the other pair. Clem snapped her head round quickly. "Quidditch practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I got up six o'clock this morning to book the pitch before the Slytherins did."

The girls, who, alongside James, were chasers on the Gryffindor house team, nodded.

"You got up at six o'clock just to book the Quidditch pitch?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," James said patronisingly. "Just because you don't feel the need to sleep until lunch, doesn't mean we all do!"

Lily glared as James laughed at her blushing face.

"Hey, you know that club round the corner, Spacey's?" Scarlett interrupted brightly. "It's having an under-eighteens evening next Saturday."

"On a weekend?" asked Clementine, joining the discussion. "Business _must_ be bad."

"So let's get in there before it closes down!" James said excitedly, and Lily was thankful he'd stopped laughing at her.

"Yeah!" Sirius agreed, looking happier. "We can pogo till we go-go!"

"Shouldn't that be bop till we drop?" asked Gwen.

"Whatever," James said, waving it away, "All up for it?"


	4. Aquaintances, Connections & Getting Clos...

A/N: We see a little bit more of Sirius in this chappie (ALWAYS a good thing). It's quite a long chapter for me, so don't expect them this length regularly! Hope you like! Merry Christmas! And I hope you're all looking forward to July 16th! (The poem that Lily recieves, by the way, was written by William Blake. Not me.)

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"Lily? Can I borrow your sunglasses?"

"What?"

"Your sunglasses?" Scarlett repeated, "Can I borrow them?" She held them up in front of Lily's face.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." She looked back down at her book. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" Clem apologised, biting her lip. "I'm almost finished!" She tapped Lily's head once more. Blue and green beads appeared on the ends of the braids she had just finished charming. Lily would have called it a success, except it had taken half an hour, and Clementine had repeatedly burnt her scalp accidentally.

"Why do you even want to wear sunglasses?" Gwen asked from her bed. "It's not _that_ sunny, and you have beautiful eyes."

Lily smirked at Scarlett's scowl. She did have the most beautiful baby blue eyes, but she hated them. Lily knew this was because they were the only things she couldn't change. Despite being almost an adult metamorphmagus, her powers were still developing, and her eye colour would probably remain permanently blue for a long time to come. She also tended to get stuck with a certain appearance from time to time, especially when she was stressed.

Lily hid a smile as she remembered the time Scarlett's ex-boyfriend Matthew had broken up with her, and she'd spent the week as an eighty-year-old woman. And during their OWLs, she'd been so frazzled, she became almost a carbon copy of Lily (with blue eyes), and the pair had kept being confused. In fact, Scarlett had nearly been forced to take Lily's Arithmancy OWL, because no one would believe her when she said she was really Scarlett Wood.

"I hate my eyes," Scarlett complained through gritted teeth.

"Why?" asked Gwen, bewildered.

"Because I can't change them and they're weird."

"That's not precisely true," said Clementine, "You can change them a little bit."

"You can?" Lily asked.

Scarlett rolled her eyes, and as she did so, blue turned to gold, and her pupils became elliptical, like cat's eyes.

"Whoa!" said Gwen, grinning and come over to get a better look. "Cool!"

"When'd you learn to do that?" asked Lily, feeling slightly put out that her best friend hadn't told her about this. Even since first year, the girls had been in 'pairs'; Scarlett and Lily, Gwenog and Clementine. Growing older, these ties had become less infinite, but Lily still felt closer to Scarlett than the others.

"Sometime on Friday evening," Scarlett answered matter-of-factly. "I was just stroking Moxie and thinking how cool it would be to have eyes like hers, then I looked up at Clem, who screamed and told me to look in the mirror." She looked over at her tabby cat, Moxie, who was resting lazily on her bed. Lily felt better, Scarlett wasn't hiding anything; Lily just hadn't been around when it had happened. No, she was too busy being rescued from a werewolf, she thought sarcastically.

"She tried changing them other colours too," Clem added, "But it didn't work. Just that kind."

"I'm not going to deny that this has been an _extremely _interesting conversation," Scarlett announced sardonically, putting on the sunglasses (over eyes that were now back to their normal blue) and checking herself in the mirror, "But I'm afraid I have to leave, places to go, people to see."

"Where are you going this time on a Sunday morning?" Lily asked, flicking a stray braid back over her shoulder.

Scarlett said nothing, only tapped her nose in a knowing fashion, before walking out of the room.

"I worry about her sometimes," Clem commented dryly as they all stared unflinchingly at the spot Scarlett had occupied moments earlier. Lily smiled and looked out the window, only to see a tawny owl stood on the window ledge, clucking impatiently.

"Hey!" Gwen exclaimed, noticing the owl as well. She took the letter from its beak, glanced at the name briefly, and then handed it to Lily. "For you." The owl took off from the windowsill with a loud flurry.

Lily frowned and turned it over, breaking the seal before pulling the letter out. "Who would be sending me post now?" she wondered aloud. She unfolded the letter and read out the cursive, flowing script, penned in red ink.

_The modest rose puts forth a thorn,_

_The humble sheep a threat'ning horn,_

_While the Lily white shall in love delight,_

_Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright._

"It's a poem," Clementine remarked, looking unusually impressed

"It's a love letter!" squeaked Gwen, goggling at it and clapping her hands to her cheeks.

Lily stared at it in shock. Who on earth was going to send her something like this?

"It must be a joke," she concluded loudly.

Gwen yanked her eyes away from the letter and goggled at her instead. "Are you having a giggle?" she asked incredulously, "It's beautiful! People don't write stuff like that for a joke, it must have taken _hours _to get it so perfect!"

"Oh, my baby's all grown up and receiving love letters from secret admirers!" said Clem, clutching her heart and wiping away a mock tear of happiness dramatically.

"Oh shut up!" Lily moaned loudly, rolling her eyes, "It's nothing!" Clem and Gwen looked at each other calculatingly, then started screaming and jumping up and down with glee.

"Girls, please!" Lily shouted above the commotion. They both stopped mid-jump.

"Come on Lils!" Gwen squealed, jumping onto Scarlett's bed. "I'm excited and the letter wasn't even for me!"

"Okay, someone enlighten me," Lily said, scowling, "What exactly am I supposed to be getting all worked up about?"

"Lily, Lily, Lily," Clem said, putting her hands on Lily's shoulders, talking to her as though she were a very small child that didn't know any better. "There comes a time in every girls life, and it differs with everyone, when you find you feel incomplete, alone, wanting…"

"Wanting what?"

Clem paused. "Companionship? I have no idea," she confessed, "I'm racking my brains trying to remember exactly how my mother finished that sentence." She was interrupted but a tapping noise on the window.

"It's another one!" Gwen cried, covering her mouth with a hand. "Go on Lils!"

Lily sighed and reached forward, taking the letter from the owl, this time white in colouring. Sure enough, the name _Lily Evans _had been written on the front.

_Lily,_

_Meeting in Prefects common room in fifteen minutes._

_James._

"Well?" asked Gwen eagerly.

"Hole in the ground you get water out of," Lily answered, smirking as she remember Sirius saying the same thing the previous day. Gwen raised her eyebrows. "It's from James," Lily told her with a roll of the eyes, "We have a meeting in fifteen minutes."

"On a Sunday?!" asked Clem, laughing at Lily's misfortune, "Phew, glad I'm not Head Girl."

"Dumbledore would lose his mind before making you Head Girl," Gwen told her, shaking her head.

"No, I think he lost his mind when he made Potter Head Boy!" Clem laughed.

"Oh, I don't know," said Lily, a thoughtful look flickering across her face, "James seems to be doing a pretty good job of it so far."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Clem, holding her hands up, "Stop and rewind! Did you just _compliment_ Potter? And did you just call him _James_?"

"Yeah? So what?" Lily replied, blushing furiously.

"So what?!" Clem echoed, "Last year you couldn't say a civil thing towards him, and now you're-"

"Oh my God!" interrupted Gwenog, "I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"You, Miss Evans, are in love with him!"

"I have never heard a more ridiculous thing in my entire life."

"Denial!" Gwen yelled, pointing a finger at Lily. She looked at Clem. "Isn't she completely denying the whole situation because she knows it's perfectly true?"

"Hey, don't ask me!" Clem answered, shrinking back, "You're the so-called 'romance expert'."

"As much as I enjoy the pair of you picking apart my love life and analysing the pieces," Lily said, backing away from Gwen's outstretched finger, "If you'll excuse me, I have a prefects meeting I'm supposed to be at."

"With Potter," Gwen added.

"Yes," said Lily, backing slowly out of the door. "And also with the _prefects_." She added, emphasising the syllables. Before anyone could stop her, she ran down the steps, slamming the door as she went.

"We are so onto her," said Gwen smugly, folding her arms.

"Oh yeah," Clem agreed.

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Lily sighed and shook her head as she climbed down from the common room to the corridor outside. Those two could do your head in if you weren't careful. She heard footsteps coming down a staircase to her left, but walked past them thinking nothing of it.

"Hey Lily!" someone called, jogging up alongside her.

"Hi James," she replied, spotting his hair.

"Anything wrong?"

"No. Why would there be?"

"I dunno, you just looked a little…" he paused, searching for the right word, "Flustered, I guess."

"It was just Gwen and Clementine. Teasing me," Lily told him with a laugh.

"About what, may I ask?"

She rolled her eyes and held out one of the pieces of parchment still in her hand.

"About this?" James asked, puzzled, "Why are they teasing you about 'Meeting in Prefects common room in fifteen minutes'?"

"Oops, wrong one," Lily said, taking it off him and handing him the other letter.

"Oh, okay, this makes more sense," he said, reading the poem with a bemused smirk on his face. "It's kinda… sappy, don't you think?"

"I think it's sweet," Lily answered, admitting to him what she hadn't to her friends. In fact, she had been rather surprised with herself when she'd actually let him see the letter in the first place; maybe their relationship really had changed.

"You do?" James asked, looking shocked.

"Yeah."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really."

"Oh. Okay then."

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Sirius leant his back onto the trunk of the tree, looking out over the lake. It was a hot day and he was glad of the shade. It wasn't often he was alone like this, but today James had a prefects meeting, and Peter and Remus were doing their potions homework. Nevertheless, when he had informed his friends that he would be spending the day by the lake, working on his tan, Moony had gone of on a tangent about skin care.

"Don't spend more than half and hour in the sun!" he had warned. Although Sirius had acted like he wasn't bothered about Remus' advice, he was taking it to heart now. A melanoma wasn't high on his list of things to get.

He closed his eyes, but felt this strange, tingling feeling in the back of his head; like someone was watching him from behind.

"Get a grip, Sirius," he muttered aloud. But the feeling wouldn't go away. Slowly, he turned his head, and saw a girl with glossy black hair streaked with purple and green, pale skin and eyes hidden behind designer shades. She was tall, with an athletic build and square shoulders, and she held herself as straight backed as a ballerina.

A hush fell. There was no lake, no school, no students; just Sirius, and the girl, and the stillness.

She was wearing a black jogging suit, and her feet were bare, toenails varnished jade green. Sirius had never considered feet as being elegant before, but hers were; long and slender with evenly spaced toes. Her face was strong: high cheekbones and full lips.

The lips parted in a smile. Her teeth seemed rather pointed, which ought to have spoiled the smile, but made it all the more charming.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello."

The girl stepped up to him, bending down and offering out a hand. "Aurelia Moon."

Sirius took her hand, shook it, and was surprised by the power of her grip.

"Sirius Black."

"Cool name."

"It's a family thing. My grandfather was called Sirius."

"You inherited it from him?"

"Yes, but the name was all I inherited. A country estate would have been nice, but there you go."

"You can inherit worse things than a name," she said.

It seemed like an exit line, but Aurelia sat on the ground beside him.

"Do you dance?" Sirius asked admiringly.

"No, why?"

"You move like a dancer."

"My parents would hasten to disagree with you. They think I'm clumsy. I was unpacking a china bowl at Christmas and I dropped it."

"How long have you been at Hogwarts? I've never seen you before."

"Never seen or never noticed?" Sirius blushed. "It's okay, I like to keep my head down, disappear into the background. I only moved here at the beginning of the year."

"That explains it," Sirius commented, more to himself than her. "Where did you live before?"

"Romania."

"You don't sound Romanian." She didn't sound anything: her voice was low and husky, and had no accent.

"I wasn't there for very long," she told him, "This is the seventh country I've lived in. My father has to go where his work takes him."

"What does he do?"

"Something to do with international co-operation I think. Unfortunately, because I keep moving schools, I'm really far behind. I have lessons with the fifth years! But anyway, what do your parents do?"

"I don't know and I don't really care. I left them last year, went to live with my friend James and his parents." It came out clipped and defensive.

"And you still have issues, so you're not comfortable with talking about it," Aurelia said. "That's fine. I don't mind if you change the subject."

"I'm that easy to see through?"

"If you know where to look."

Sirius couldn't decide whether Aurelia was being sympathetic or a smart aleck; so he gave her the benefit of the doubt.

"What d'you think of Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"Actually, I've not seen much of it yet. I've been so busy, but I was planning to go sometime soon."

"Need a guide?"

"You offering?"

"Uh huh."

Aurelia smiled her pointy-toothed smile again. "Careful, I might take you up on that!"

"Feel free. When?"

"Saturday afternoon?"

"Suits me. I'll meet you here at two o'clock."

"I can't promise, something might turn up," she told him in an offhand way. "If I'm not here by half past I'm not coming."

"Understood."

She looked at her watch. "I have to go," she announced, flicking her hair off her shoulder and clenching her toes.

"I'll see you Saturday then?" Sirius asked, wondering if he sounded as eager as he felt.

"Perhaps. If not, I hope it's soon." She smiled.

"Me too. Bye!"

Since nothing better could possibly happen to him, Sirius went in soon after Aurelia left. He was ecstatic; he'd actually talked to a girl without acting like a moron. It was like – instant friendship, except that it wasn't a friendship yet, just an intriguing acquaintance.

Later on, as he walked with Moony and Wormtail down to lunch, Sirius said, "I met a girl today."

"Oh really?" asked Remus, sitting down at the table, "Which girl?"

"Aurelia." Seeing the confused look on his friend's face, he continued. "She moved here from Romania. I might be showing her around Hogsmeade on Saturday."

"And?"

"She's nice. Friendly."

"_And_?"

"That's all."

"No it isn't!" Peter chipped in.

"If that was all," Remus said, helping himself to a bread roll, "You wouldn't have bothered to mention her."

Sirius sighed. He hated it when Moony was right.

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It was official. Prefect meetings were obviously a scheme made up by Hogwarts Headmasters to inflict as much pain as possible on the Head pupils. Sighing as Davey Gudgeon put up his hand for the fifth time in the last hour, Lily gave James a look that clearly said 'You're taking this one!' James grinned and took the hint.

"Yes Gudgeon?" he asked in a bored tone. The rest of the prefects rolled the eyes in unison.

"What do you think the Headmaster would think to the idea of allotting each house a private part of the grounds?" Davey asked, reading shorthand notes from a two-foot roll of parchment (although he had to read them with his head tilted, he'd had a blind spot in his right eye every since the accident with the Whomping Willow), "The Hufflepuffs could have round the greenhouses, the Ravenclaws beneath the Astronomy tower, the Gryffin-"

"I think the Headmaster would agree with me when I say it's the most ridiculous idea you've come up with yet, Gudgeon," James interrupted, leafing through some pieces of parchment from Professor Dumbledore. "And I think that's everything we're supposed to be discussing this time. Oh no, it's not."

The other occupants of the room groaned audibly, knowing whatever it was, Davey would have a lot to say on the matter.

"Dumbledore wants us to come up with some ideas for a sort of… ball… thing," he finished lamely. "Dance, disco, whatever you want to call it."

Everyone sighed as Davey began scribbling away furiously, hand halfway in the air.

"Tell you what," Lily declared quickly, "We'll all meet back here same time on Saturday. See what you can come up with by then."

Slowly, the prefects filed out the room, until only Lily and James were left.

"I swear Lils," James hissed venomously, "If someone doesn't cut out that kid's tongue soon, I shall not be held responsible for my actions."

"That's not very nice James," Lily answered mildly, jotting something down on the back of Dumbledore's notes. "And you didn't need to insult him every time he suggested something. Poor boy's going to end up with low self-esteem."

"So you'd rather me have left him to babble on an hour about banning ghosts from the fifth floor? Or allowing day-trips into the Forbidden Forest?" James asked disbelievingly. "Need I say more?"

"No, I think you've proved your point," Lily murmured placidly. "Shall we go to lunch?" James let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah, all right then." And it wasn't until they reached the hall and sat down at the table, that James realised he'd called her Lils, and she hadn't said a thing. A rush of joy filled his heart, but he felt it ebb away as he remembered how distracted she'd been that morning.

"_No_," he thought to himself, "_You've been there before, and it sucks. No fantasies, no moping, no big build-up. Take what comes and don't expect anything else. Wait and see_."

Top advice – if he was sensible enough to take it.

He put it to one side and sat down between Lily and Remus at the Gryffindor table, noticing Sirius buttering a bread roll calmly, not saying a word and looking quite pleased with himself.

"Padfoot met a girl today," Remus told Lily, when she asked why Sirius had an unusually dreamy look on his face. He went on to explain the potted version of Sirius's meeting with Aurelia he had been given. This wasn't enough for James.

"Sirius," James said, hitting him on the arm, "You're going on a date with a girl you've only met once?"

"It's not a date," said Sirius crossly, "She's never been to Hogsmeade, so I'm going to do the friendly thing and take her round."

"How friendly would friendly be, exactly?"

"Just friendly."

"Is she a babe?"

Sirius had to think about it. "She's not like any of the other girls I've been out with."

"She's _not _a babe?"

"Yes… no… I don't know! She's different."

"From?"

"Anybody I've ever met."

James narrowed his eyes. "Is that a Cupid's arrow I spy in your chest, Padfoot?"

"James, get over yourself will you?" Sirius requested good-naturedly.

Lily grinned. "It worked Sirius!" she said. "I told you it would. When you stop looking, what you're looking for finds you."

True, she had had Scarlett in mind to be what he was looking for, but this Aurelia girl seemed nice enough. And maybe if it got serious, Scarlett would let go of the childlike infatuation she had with Sirius and chase after some other heartthrob. _Preferably not James_, she thought, before blushing profoundly and praying there were no telepaths in the room. _'You did not just think that!' _She pleaded silently, _'You and James are hardly even friends yet, and you do not like him in that way.'_


	5. Then I Go And Spoil It All

A/N: Amazingly, I've managed to struggle through my writer's block with this. I think, this is my only fic that I haven't lost heart on, it still interests me. My problem seems to be starting chapters, if I can do that I'll keep it up for hours, but beginnings are my downfall. I like endings best. I could tell you exactly how I plan to finish every single one of my current fics.

But enough of that.

A huge thanks to Blinded One, my only reviewer for the last chapter. I'm sorry this has been so long! Never fear though, if you haven't guessed something about Scarlett by the end of this chapter, you soon will do!

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James paused in the middle of the sentence and looked at what he'd written.

_'I am not sure what to think,_

_And I am not sure what to do,_

_But I know I cannot go on like this,_

_Pretending I don't love you,_

_Maybe it is my head,_

_Maybe it is my heart,_

_All I think about is you,_

_When ever we are apart.'_

"What a piece of shit," he announced aloud, letting a drop of red ink splash from his quill onto the parchment below.

"What?" started Remus, who had been reading a book on his bed, blissfully unaware of James' predicament.

"Oh… nothing," James told him, smiling brightly as he crumpled up his latest attempt. Remus did not appear too happy with his explanation.

"What are you doing James?" he sighed, sitting up straighter. "All you've been doing this afternoon is writing, sighing, complaining, and finally crumpling up whatever it was you were writing in the first place."

"It's nothing."

"No, it's not. It's something, that much is clear. Now what is it?"

"You'll laugh."

"I promise, I won't. However stupid it might be."

"You will. I know you will. It's so pathetically pathetic, even you would laugh."

"I won't, cross my heart and hope to die."

"Well…" he began biting his lip. What would be so bad about telling Moony? Padfoot would collapse in hysterics and bring it up in every conversation they ever had, but Moony would probably help. Probably. "Okay… but you cannot – under pain of slow disembowelment – tell Padfoot."

"I swear," Remus told him solemnly, drawing a cross on his chest. "What are you doing?"

"Writing poetry."

If Remus was amused, he certainly didn't show it; the poker straight face was kept firmly in place. Actually, he had the deadpan look down to perfection. He often liked to make cracks at people, but his face would be so serious they wouldn't realise he had insulted them until he was too far away to hex.

"Why?"

"Because I plan on being the next Shakespeare," James replied, not breaking his gaze and wondering if he could beat Remus at his own game.

"Why?" he repeated, unmoved. James sighed and threw down his quill in defeat.

"It's for Lily," he explained after a couple of seconds. "I wrote some a while ago for her, and Sirius thought it would be hilariously funny to send it. And I asked her what she thought about it, but she doesn't know I sent it, of course, she just mentioned it, and she said that she thought it was sweet. So now I'm writing more. Because she likes it and it is a sure fire way to make her fall in love with me."

"Oh. Is it any good?" James cast him a cynical look. "Guess not."

"Will you help me?"

"Do I have any choice?"

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On his way down to the lake, Sirius wished his mistakes had taught him more. Despite his promises to himself about not getting worked up, he'd raised his expectations so high that if Aurelia didn't show, he'd be mightily disappointed, and he hadn't made any other plans.

He needn't have worried. As soon as the lake came into view, he saw Aurelia, sat beneath the tree where they'd first met. She'd opted to wear cut-off jeans as shorts, and a dazzlingly white shirt. Her hair was scraped back into a ponytail, and with her shades, canvas shoes, Hessian shoulder bag and long, tanned legs, she looked like she'd just stepped off a yacht in the south of France.

"You're early!" he grinned. "Isn't it traditional for the girl to keep the boy waiting, not the other way round?"

"I wouldn't know," Aurelia replied breezily. "I don't make a habit of this."

"What? Being early?"

"No, going out with boys. My parents don't really approve, they'd rather I stayed cooped up inside the house where they can watch me."

"How'd you persuade them to let you come to Hogwarts?"

"By reminding them it was one of the best wizarding schools in the whole of Europe, and that I'd benefit being away from them for a while. They get frantic this time of year, because they haven't seen me in months."

"You're lucky, at least you have parents that care. That's more than I can say."

Aurelia was silent, so Sirius began to walk slowly up to the castle gates. Seventh years were allowed into Hogsmeade any weekend they liked, but they had to walk or fly there. It was too much hassle to harness up carriages every time one of them fancied another dungbomb or a new quill.

It was nice when Hogsmeade was silent, not packed with students, although later this afternoon they'd all be here, stocking up for the holidays.

Sirius had never actually walked out the gates before. He usually used one of the secret passages because they were much quicker, but he wasn't sure if he could trust Aurelia with that kind of information. Well, actually he was, but James and Remus had forbidden him from telling her, on the grounds that she might snitch to a teacher. He supposed it was all for the best.

As they walked, the talked lightly about various subjects; friends, school, Quidditch, occasionally catching each other's eye nervously. Aurelia said she supported the Prides, whereas Sirius was a big Cannons fan. She had laughed when he told her this and said he would get along well with her father. Sirius had smiled and seriously wondered if he would.

In Hogsmeade, Sirius showed her round various shops. He bought her a biting teacup in Zonko's, and in the Post Office she marvelled at all the different owls. They stopped in the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer, which Rosie gave him on the house.

As they were walking slowly back in the late afternoon, Aurelia paused outside Hogsmeade cemetery.

"It's beautiful," she whispered softly.

"What?"

"The cemetery."

"You have a thing for _cemeteries_?" he laughed. He thought she was having him on, but she was deadly serious.

"They're peaceful places," she answered. "Even in the centre of a large town, they're quiet."

"I find graveyards scary."

"You shouldn't. In a graveyard, everyone is at rest. You should fear the living, not the dead."

Sirius felt the conversation was turning morbid, and tried to lighten it.

"I always figured a graveyard was the last place anyone would go." Rubbish joke; but Aurelia smiled anyway.

"Come on!" she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward. They passed through the cemetery gates as distant thunder rumbled.

"We're going to get wet," said Sirius.

"Does that bother you?"

"Not particularly."

He was being economical with the truth - Sirius detested rain - but he was drawing closer and closer to Aurelia and he didn't want to lose her. If he had to struggle waist-deep through a flood – that was OK with him.

They followed the central path past leaning headstones, marble angels with moss in their eyes, urns of wilting, dying flowers. Aurelia stopped at an elaborate monument. On top of a granite dais stood the statue of a young man in biker leathers and boots, goggles pushed up on his helmet, stone teeth bared in a fixed smile.

Sirius read the inscription. The young man had been killed in the nineteen-fifties, attempting to break a speed record on a flying motorbike. Sirius had always fancied one of those, but he found this quite off-putting.

"He was only twenty-one," he murmured. "He must've thought he had his whole life ahead of him."

"He died trying to achieve something though," Aurelia put in. "Not a bad death."

Sirius made no comment; as far as he was concerned, all deaths were bad deaths. Except maybe his mother's. A bolt of lightning flashed so brightly, it left lilac after-images in his eyes every time he blinked. A peal of thunder rolled by, and rain fell in huge drops that left streaks on the statue of the biker.

He took Aurelia's hand and rushed for cover under a nearby yew tree. The stood together as rain dripped down from the branches.

"I don't know if it's safe here," Sirius said. "If the lightning strikes this tree- " Another kind of lightning struck; Aurelia pressed her lips to his.

Sirius was lost in the kiss. He felt Aurelia's arms tighten around him, crushing his chest until he could hardly breathe; he managed to pull his head free.

"Could we be less intense?" he gasped. "My ribs feel like they're going to pop." Aurelia relaxed her embrace.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I've been wanting to kiss you ever since the first time we met."

"That's very flattering, but bear in mind that I'm breakable. Try gentle next time." Aurelia lowered her arms to her sides.

"I'm hungry Sirius," she told him. "I want to know what it's like for people to love the real you. I'm sick of hiding and pretending to be what I'm not. They don't understand how much I need to be myself." She stared at the rain.

Sirius decided not to ask who 'they' were, and watched her silently. She was panting; her breath showed in the cool air.

"Take off your sunglasses," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"I want to see your eyes." She appeared to hesitate for a moment before replying.

"They're deformed."

"I don't care," he told her, not letting on how startled he was at this piece of information.

"You'll think I'm ugly."

"No I won't. Please?"

Lightning flickered once more, followed by another clang of thunder.

"Please?" Sirius asked again. Aurelia tentatively raised her hands and slid off the shades.

"There," She said firmly, reassuring herself rather than him.

Her eyes were golden, pupils slightly elliptical with no definite boundary between them and the irises – lion's eyes; hunter's eyes.

"Shit!" he whispered. Aurelia replaced her sunglasses, her fingers fumbling around her hair.

"I shouldn't have done that," she said unsteadily. "I shouldn't have shown you. It was a mistake. All of this is a mistake – I shouldn't be here!" She darted into the rain, too quickly for Sirius to stop her.

"Aurelia?" he shouted. "Aurelia!" She disappeared into the downpour. Sirius leaned his back against the damp trunk of the yew and tried to work out where he'd gone wrong.

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"Fancy dress?"

"Yes, you've said that. In fact everyone in the room has said that. Even Gudgeon. Only sensible idea he's come up with all year."

The Hufflepuff sat back in defeat, and Lily cast James a warning glance.

"Look," he explained, leaning forward slightly. "The idea isn't a bad one. Stereotypical, yes; but not bad. The thing you've all failed to specify is what _type_ of fancy dress you want to base it on."

Seeing their confused gazes, Lily decided to step in.

"What he means," she told them, "Is we need to have a theme, like Fairytales or animals or… historical figures; something like that. We can't have one person coming as a druid, and another coming as a lobster."

"I think that would be quite funny," piped up a Slytherin sixth year. Lily shot him a condescending look.

"Any ideas?" she asked, surveying the room. A shy Ravenclaw at the back put up her hand. Lily recognised her as Scarlett's younger sister. "Yes, Gaia?"

"Um… what about famous Witches and Wizards?" she suggested meekly. "Everyone dresses up as his or her favourite person from a chocolate frog card."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" James said happily, looking proud, as if he'd thought up the idea himself. He beamed at Gaia, who blushed profoundly.

"That's a very good idea," Lily smiled. "Does anyone have anything else they'd like to share with us, or is that okay with everyone here?" They made general noises of agreement, so Lily took this to mean they were all decided. "Right then, we'll meet back here in a week. In the meantime, try to think of more ideas for everything we've discussed today."

She began to scribble down everything they'd talked about as the Prefects left; something she'd taken to doing since the beginning of the year.

"Bye Lily!" called Gaia, the last out of the room.

"Bye Gaia!" she replied, smiling. It was funny, now that she and James were… friends, almost, and didn't spend the whole meetings arguing about something pointless, she was beginning to enjoy them.

"Hey Lils, are you going to Spacey's tonight?" James asked, moving several chairs in the prefect's common room to different places, and then observing them through squinted eyes.

"I think so," she replied, "Scarlett's desperate to go before it closes down. Can't say I'm that excited though, it can't be that great."

"It'll be fun, we haven't had a night out in _ages_," he replied, thinking wistfully of the last 'Gryffindor night on the town'. Lily peered at him from her seat. "What?"

"Are you thinking about the time you and Sirius took me to the Hog's Head and force-fed me excessive amounts of Firewhiskey?" she asked suspiciously. James grinned and put his hands behind his head.

"Ahh, Evans, you know me too well!" he sighed. "That was honestly the best night of my life. Well, except for the time Sirius gave you those huge spots, and you were trying to hex him so he climbed a tree and you wouldn't let him down for 8 hours, which was also pretty funny. I'm not sure which one I prefer more."

"Please tell me you only regard it so highly because you succeeded in the impossible by getting me drunk," Lily muttered pleadingly. James grinned more widely.

"I was thinking more along the lines of the lap dance you gave me…" Lily cringed and blushed. "And perhaps the part where you pinched Aberforth's bottom…" he continued, as she went an interesting shade of magenta. "Or maybe even when you snogged your best friend…"

Lily stared at him, the colour in her cheeks subsiding. "I did not kiss Scarlett!" she said in an appalled tone.

"You didn't?" he asked, looking confused. "Oh, no… I was thinking of Sirius."

"Sirius snogged… his best friend?" she asked looking at James with a mixture of curiosity and astonishment.

"No, he snogged Scarlett."

"Really? She never mentioned it."

"I think they were both too drunk to remember. Me and Remus were the only ones slightly sober."

"Oh." She paused, not sure if she should bring up the subject his friend's name had reminded her of, then went ahead with it anyway. "Have you told him yet?" What a mood-killer. He regarded her silently, and even before he spoke she knew what his words would be.

"No. And I'm not sure if I want to." She nodded.

"Maybe we should just… forget about it," she suggested staring out of the window.

"No, we- we can't. It's not right," he answered, shaking his head slowly. "He deserves to know."

"It would hurt him," she whispered. "If you were in his shoes, how would you feel?"

"I'd probably want to kill myself," James admitted. "I don't think I'd want to live if I almost killed someone I cared about."

Cared about… 

The words echoed in Lily's head for several moments, before she shook herself and rolled up the piece of parchment she had been writing on, standing up to leave.

"Where are you going now?" James questioned, looking at her sharply, in an almost possessive tone.

"Back to my room to change," she replied airily, brushing her skirt down. "Want to join me?"

James' eyebrows rose and he smiled at her roguishly.

"Why Lily, I never knew you felt that way!"

Lily glared at him playfully. "Not like that you dolt, you know what I meant." He smiled enigmatically, and stood up, linking his arm through hers before marching out with her.

She smiled good-naturedly and tried to ignore the way her heart was bouncing around inexplicably.

She looked at him contemplatively as they strolled along the corridors, arm in arm. He caught her staring, and took a break from the constant stream of babble to do with detentions to ask, "Like what you see?" in a suggestive manner.

"Perhaps," she replied, trying to keep all colour from her cheeks. James stopped in his tracks and goggled at her as she kept going, wondering how the hell he had managed to get Lily flirting with him. He jogged to catch up with her again.

"Who are you and what the hell have you done with Lily Evans?" he asked, eyebrows knitting together in a frown.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied sweetly. "Snidget." The portrait swung open and James stood there until it had closed after her, trying for the life of him to work out what the hell had just happened.

"Something is very, _very _wrong with Lily," he announced as he stormed wildly into his dormitory. Remus and Peter were the only ones there.

"Sorry, did you say something?" asked Peter, looking up mildly from his work. James sniffed disdainfully and turned to Moony, who had shut his book and put on his 'I'm a good listener, please talk to me' face.

"She is acting really weirdly."

"How so?" Remus asked, pulling a notepad towards him, and taking out a pencil from behind his ear.

"Well, just now, I caught her staring at me. Then I asked her, jokingly, of course, if she liked what she saw. And- "

"Hang on!" Remus muttered, "Let me get all of this!"

"What?" James asked, completely befuddled. Remus reached under his bed, and pulled out a pair of old reading glasses. There was something green and gooey on them, which he pulled off with grimace before putting them on.

"Professor R.J. Lupin, relationship expert, at your service!" he announced with a flourish.

"Right," James said slowly. "Am I expected to pay upfront or will you send me an invoice?"

"Cash will do nicely, thank you," Moony replied with a smile. "You have 13 minutes left. Continue." He shook his hand impatiently, pencil poised over the page.

"Okay, where was I?" James started. "Ah yes, I remember."

"So do I, I have it written down," Remus interrupted. "Hurry up, won't you?"

"Right, I thought she'd just, I dunno, blush or something, but she didn't."

"What did she do?"

"She said 'perhaps'. Does that mean anything?"

"I don't know…" Remus mumbled, frowning at the page. "How is she when you're with her?"

"When am I with her? You mean, like, after meetings and stuff?"

"Yeah. And at revision sessions." James did not reply. "Prongs? Please tell me you have been revising!" He bit his lip and threw Moony an apologetic look. Remus sighed. "I might've known."

"Sorry, I just… forgot."

"Tonight, you are going to arrange a revision session with her, is that clear?"

"Yes Professor."

"Good," said Remus, sitting back against the headboard of his bed. "Was there anything else?"

"Um… yeah there was actually," he said, scratching his head thoughtfully. "You know how she used to get really pissed every time I called her Lils? Now, if I call her that, she doesn't bat an eyelid!"

Remus made several grunting noises as he wrote this all down, then continued to scribble other things as well, occasionally making noises of understanding, and then delight.

"What is it?" James asked frantically, almost pulling great clumps of his messy hair out, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I do," his friend replied.

"And?" James prompted, after he did not elaborate further.

"I'm not going to tell you," Moony replied. James' face fell. "Tell me, Prongs, is Lily going to Spacey's tonight?"

"Ye-es," James replied, not entirely sure what he was getting at.

"Are you?"

"Ye-es."

"Good. I shall accompany you, then I can observe your interactions."

"Well, okay, but as long as you leave the bloody notepad behind, and take off those ridiculous glasses."

"Hey!" Remus protested. "I have it on good authority that they make me look rather fetching!"

"Peter, stop telling lies," James muttered, rolling his eyes as he disappeared into the bathroom.

"You owe me six sickles and two knuts!" Remus called after him.

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"Li-leee!"

"Yes?"

"Have you seen my top?"

"Which one, Gwen?" Lily sighed. "You'll have to be a _tiny _bit more specific. You have hundreds, if not thousands, of tops and you expect me to know the exact one you're talking about from that description?"

"That was a bit exaggerated Lils," Gwen sulked. "I do not have hundreds of tops. I have 52. And I left most of them at home."

"Yes, that's right…" Lily replied, putting on a tone of mock comprehension. "You only brought 51."

"Shut up!" Gwen shrieked, throwing whatever was in her hand at her roommate. Lily pulled it off her head and looked at it.

"Why don't you just wear this?" she asked, holding it up and seeing it was a white halter-neck with beading on the front.

"Lily, don't test me right now, I'm in a very stressful position." She shook her head and continued to mutter profanities to herself as she rooted around for something to wear.

"What's wrong with this?" Lily asked Clem, holding the halter neck up as her roommate left the bathroom and crossed the floor to her bedside table. Clem shrugged and picked out a pair of bright red, plastic earrings. She put them on in front of the mirror, admiring herself, then turned to Lily.

"Where's Lettie?"

Scarlett, or Lettie as they called her (among other things), had pranced out of the dorm around two o'clock and had not been seen since.

"Who knows," Lily replied. She stood behind Clementine and looked at her reflection. "Do you have any Sleekeazy's?" she moaned, pulling at her hair in an effort to make it straighter. This morning she'd taken out the braids Clem had put in last week, and now her hair was just a frizzy mess, even after she'd had a shower.

Clem snorted. "Why would I? My hair's fine without it."

"I do!" Gwen piped up, pulling her nose out of her trunk long enough to throw Lily a bottle, before shoving it back in again.

One hour later, Clementine and Gwen were ready to go, Lily hadn't finished de-frizzing her hair, and Scarlett was _still _missing.

"You guys go on without me," Lily said, as Gwen complained for the fifth time that she was bored with waiting. I'll stay here and see if Scarlett shows up by the time I'm finished." Clementine reluctantly agreed, not keen on leaving her alone, but they went anyway.

Once Lily was happy with her hair, had thrown on a shirt, a knitted tank top and a pair of flared jeans, she waited for Scarlett. It was almost half seven, and she'd promised to be there by quarter to, so she had to leave now or end up late, something she hated being.

She opened the door and stepped out, before a thought struck her. Grabbing a quill from the dresser, she scribbled a quick note to Scarlett on an empty paper bag Gwen had discarded, after finishing all the jelly snakes previous contained in it.

_Scarlett, waited till half past. Will meet you in Hogsmeade. Love, Lily._

She needn't have done so, because no sooner had she put the pen down, footsteps could be heard running up the winding stone staircase. Lily turned, and saw her best friend standing just inside the room, looking like she had been caught in a thunderstorm.

Her normally shiny hair was bedraggled, her white shirt had gone see-through and there were large black marks beneath her eyes where her mascara had run. Scarlett was holding Lily's sunglasses in one hand, and she managed to mumble the words "Lily, I've done something incredibly stupid," through her sobs, before collapsing on her bed in a fit of hysterics.

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Review, my lovely readers! (Because, I swear, reviewing really gives me motivation to write more!)


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